According to the International Centre for Prison Studies, the United States has the highest prison population per capita in the world. In 2009, for example, 1 out of every 135 U.S. residents was incarcerated. Generally, inmates convicted of felony offenses serve long sentences in prison (e.g., federal or state prisons), whereas those convicted of misdemeanors receive shorter sentences to be served in jail (e.g., county jail). In either case, while awaiting trial, a suspect or accused may remain incarcerated. During his or her incarceration, an inmate may have opportunities to communicate with the outside world.
By allowing prisoners to have some contact with friends and family while incarcerated, the justice system aims to facilitate their transition back into society upon release. Traditional forms of contact include telephone calls, in-person visitation, conjugal visits, etc. More recently, technological advances have allowed jails and prisons to provide other types of visitation, including individual-to-individual videoconferences and online chat sessions.
Traditional communication services provided to residents of controlled-environment facilities (such as correctional facilities) include allowing residents (inmates) to place outbound phone calls to non-residents (i.e., persons not committed to a controlled-environment facility). Additionally, non-residents can typically schedule video visitation with residents (inmates) of the controlled-environment facility. Other types of communication available to controlled-environment residents include the ability to exchange email and canned text messages between residents and non-residents of the controlled-environment facility. Basically, all of these forms of communication aim to facilitate communication between a resident of a controlled-environment facility and a non-resident.
Social networking has emerged as a primary form of communication. Social networking sites provide a platform for communication of information, ideas, and media amongst connected parties. Connections in social networks are typically formed on an invitation basis. Social networking platforms offer a variety of modes of communications between connected parties. For example, connected parties may communicate via private messages, instant messaging, video or voice messaging, etc. Additionally, connected parties may communicate via public or semi-public methods, such as posting text or media to a public forum or page. Public forums can include blogs, podcasts, message feeds, community forum threads, posts to virtual bulletin boards, status updates, location check-ins, timeline, tagging, social media payments, logins, tag, etc.
Controlled-environment facilities typically control and record information related to the various interactions, communications, and/or transactions involving the facilities' residents. For example, in a correctional facility (e.g., a prison or jail), such information may be collected and used for investigative purposes with respect to past, present, and future criminal activities. Accordingly, various exchanges of information, communication, money, goods, etc. may be recorded and stored in one or more electronic databases. Typically, each controlled-environment facility controls its own information database, which is generally not accessible by other facilities.